Imagine having to depend on the U.S. for the logistical support which is your life’s blood at a time when it was being run by Nixon and Kissinger at the executive level and by folks like Ted Kennedy in the congressional realm.

I do not know if Sorley is right. I know that counterinsurgency operations are fraught with peril even when you have overwhelming firepower at your disposal. But Sorley’s analysis resonates with me. Tarkin — uh, I mean, Westmoreland — certainly left quite a mess for his more competent successor to try to clean up.